A Reflective View of Yosef through the Lens of Autism

This book was recommended for inclusion in AISee’s inspirational and reflective reading list by an international colleague. For me, it proved to be more reflective than inspirational. It invited me to pause and think not only about how our understanding has developed over time, but also how much remains uncertain, unspoken and still to be learnt. 

It first led me to reflect on how long the journey of learning, research, and understanding can be. The first recorded use of the word autism is generally attributed to the Swiss psychiatrist Paul Eugen Bleuler around 1911. It appeared again in the work of the Russian psychiatrist Grunya Sukhareva in the early 1920s, culminating in one of the first clinical descriptions of autistic traits in 1925. That was some twenty-five years before the work of Kanner and Asperger, a reminder of how gradual, layered, and often incomplete progress in this field has been.

Because my own voluntary involvement and since mid-90s family and professional, with learning disabilities and autism began in 1974, the book also prompted a more personal reflection on the importance of careful observation within holistic assessment. Attentive observation can reveal far more than areas of difficulty alone; it can also illuminate strengths, capacities, and qualities that might otherwise be missed. That fuller perspective matters deeply if we are to understand the whole person, rather than define them solely by challenge or diagnosis. I have explored this further in my blog on how to create an individualised holistic observational assessment HERE

All of this brings me back to the book itself. Many of the author’s insights seem closely bound to the long evolution of understanding around autism. What stayed with me most was the invitation to revisit a familiar story with greater patience, curiosity, and compassion.

In the book, Yosef’s behaviour, relationships, and personal development are often presented as difficult to interpret and resistant to easy explanation. The author, however, offers a thoughtful and coherent reading of the Biblical narrative, suggesting that Yosef’s character may plausibly be understood through the lens of autism. Seen in this way, he becomes less enigmatic and more recognisable: a person whose life reflects both strengths and vulnerabilities, gifts and struggles. For me, that interpretation makes the story not only more accessible, but more deeply human.

In that sense, the book offers more than an interpretation of Yosef; it opens a wider invitation to read difference with greater care, dignity, and understanding.

One can purchase from here

Thom Kirkwood PhD. FITOL. FIntAPA. MIEP. GA.

Advocating Inclusion Specialist

AISee Collaborative Limited

Global Interlocutor

International Advocacy Practitioners Association